Monday, March 31, 2008

UPS Whiteboard Guy



This is related to sports in that during every broadcast, you see a UPS commercial about 10 times.

"This particular nonperformer—the floppy-haired fellow standing at the whiteboard—is named Andy Azula, and he's actually the creative director on the campaign. Azula conceived of these ads as a refreshing change from typical shipping spots, which show trucks and package handlers and businesspeople meeting deadlines. To give UPS a sense of what he planned, he filmed sample spots with himself as the whiteboard guy and with co-workers from his ad agency behind the camera. He never imagined he'd appear in the final versions, but when UPS tested various other actors (and kept Azula in the mix), focus groups consistently picked him as their favorite. Azula's guess is that while the other actors had more charisma and energy, his low-key, unpolished delivery made him seem less like an annoying pitchman. As an art director who'd made countless storyboards, he also had a knack for fast, fun sketching. (Though a professional illustrator was employed on the set to speed things up by redrawing the whiteboard between takes. "He had to repress his skills to imitate my style," says Azula.)" - Slate.com

Andy Azula has sold out. While I don't doubt that the he actually drew the sketches in the first dozen or so ads, he no longer does - obviously shown in the ad above. But it gets worse.

The ad in which Azula is sketching a big 18 wheeler with a black guy...he doesn't.

The first time I watched it, I thought it looked weird, so I rewinded it and watched it in slow motion. The black guy's arm flashed red twice. But more importantly, even disappointingly, Azula doesn't appear to be drawing at all. Instead the image is computer generated on a green screen. I would post the video for you, but neither YouTube nor UPS Pressroom: Advertising has that ad available.

Andy Azula is a fraud.

Check it out for yourselves.

1 comment:

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